>My newly built Rain Dance deck
>
>Note 1 : limited card availability applies
>Note 2 : Only Base+Jungle cards available in Australia
>
>Energy (25)
>
>Water - 24
>DCE - 1 (I need more)
>
>Pokemon (20)
>
>Squirtle - 4
>Wartortle - 2 (Get around breeder problem)
>Blastoise - 2 (Need more)
>Seel - 2
>Dewgong - 1
>Poliwag - 3
>Poliwhirl - 2
>Poliwrath - 1
>Eevee - 2
>Vaporeon - 1 (Can drop this line)
>
>Trainers (15)
>
>Pokemon Breeder - 1 (Need more, i know....)
>Professor Oak - 3
>Switch - 3
>Bill - 3
>Pokedex - 3
>Poke ball - 2
>
>Sorry to make this deck hard to fix because of card availability but the main idea is a raindance deck. I >know i should put in more Blastoise and magikrap...i mean...magikarp and Gyrados in, but i just don't >have those cards :(
>
>Hope you can help me out here. I'll take in all your advice so I can try to be a better deck builder.

***

Okay... this deck has been sitting in my "This Week's Candidates" folder for about a week. I figured it was time to fix it. It seems like a fairly standard Raindance, with the caveat that Fossil cards are not available. Fella, a little friendly disclaimer before I start--playing raindance in a Jungle environment will be sort of like swimming in molasses, from what I've seen. Articuno's absence robs you of a lot of speed and Mime just shuts you down cold. I'll see what I can do, but I can't promise miracles.. One other thing... when I'm going through, I'm going to tell you what the BEST cards are... then at the end, I'll give you some acceptable substitutes, all right?

1) Too many evolution families. The ideal number of evolution families for Raindance is one (Blastoise) but you don't have Fossil, so that's not an option. In an effort to make your electric weakness slightly less glaring, I'll steer you away from Dewgong and toward Gyarados. This makes you weak to the almighty Mantis Pokemon, but that's life. Those constitute our evolution families.

For basic support, I would recommend Kangaskhan and Jigglypuff. Jiggly is in for one purpose only: Kill Mime. Kill Mime dead. Kanga, on the other hand, needs to get lucky to hurt Mime, but can still throw up a wall against him (and just about anything else, for that matter.) You could try Chansey too, but Kanga's ability to fetch can be helpful to a Raindance. To ensure that you get what you need quickly, Blastoise should be 4-4-4 and Gyarados 4-3. Yes, you do need more breeders. So get 'em, and use Wartortle until then. Keep a single Wartortle in only if Mew is a problem for you; otherwise, no need.

2) Rain Dance's trainers are about the only thing that wasn't drastically affected by Fossil. The main sticking point with trainers is that we have less space for them because of having to run evolutions. First things first: 4 Oak, 4 Computer Search, 4 Breeder. Next in the order of importance come Bill, PlusPower (Die, Electabuzz! Die!) and Gust of Wind (pick off any hosers on your opponent's bench.) I wouldn't run Energy Removal here, because you want all the space you can get dedicated to going off fast.. Perhaps Energy Retrieval and Item Finder at the end if we get really, insanely lucky and have any space left over.

3) I'd put in a few DCE if we can. Then we just shove water energy into every nook and cranny of this deck until there's no space left.

***

19 Pokemon:

4 Squirtle
4 Blastoise
3 Magikarp
3 Gyarados
2 Jigglypuff
2 Kangaskhan

20 Trainers:

4 Oak
4 Computer Search
4 Pokemon Breeder
2 GOW
2 PlusPower
2 Energy Retrieval
2 Item Finder

21 Energy:

2 DCE
20 Water Energy

***

I had to take Bill out. This may seem like complete and utter insanity, but I felt it was the best of a number of unattractive alternatives. You'll be Oaking like a madman, anyway. If you feel that PlusPower isn't helping very much, you could try dropping it.

Now... how to make this deck on the cheap? One obvious step is to use Dewgong instead of Gyarados. Watch out for lightning, though. You could even use Vaporeon if it's easier for you than Dewgong, but a) make sure you have a solid evolution and b) stay away from Poliwrath. You could also use fewer Breeders and more Wartortles. Beyond that, though... I really don't know. You really oughtn't to try making Raindance without a fairly large supply of cash.

Anyway, best of luck. This was hard, but I've tried to make it the best I can. I hope Fossil comes your way very soon.


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